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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

iOS 5 running on one-third of iOS-based devices

iOS 5 has been out for less than a week, but the mobile operating system has rapidly gained a foothold among iOS-based device owners.

According to mobile app analytics company Localytics, which examined iOS device usage between Wednesday and yesterday, 33 percent of all iOS-based devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, are running iOS 5. If the new iPhone 4S is taken out of the equation, 31 percent of Apple's mobile products are running its latest mobile operating system version.

Apple launched iOS 5 last week. The operating system delivers a host of improvements, including a new messaging platform, called iMessage, and support for Apple's cloud-based service, iCloud. Perhaps most appealing to iOS 4 users, the operating system also comes with a new Notification Center to make it easy for users to find all app and system notifications in one place. The platform also includes full Twitter integration.

Lookout's data confirms what Apple itself is saying about the popularity of iOS 5. Yesterday, Apple announced that 25 million people are using iOS 5. That news came with Apple's announcement that it sold 4 million iPhone 4S smartphones in its first three days of availalability, marking the biggest weekend yet for the company's iPhone.

Since every iPhone 4S unit is running iOS 5, Localytics dug into the operating system's usage on Apple's other devices. The company found that iOS 5 usage is highest on the iPad 2, with 36 percent of owners running the platform. The analytics firm found that 35 percent of iPhone 4 owners are running iOS 5, while 33 percent of original iPad owners have downloaded the operating system. The fourth-generation iPod Touch tallied the lowest score in Localytics' study with just 17 percent of owners running iOS 5.